Credit crunch leads to rental increase
News Category: Industry News
Published: 06-May-2008
An increasing number of Britons are opting to rent property in the face of the credit crunch, new research has revealed.
According to a study compiled by moneysupermarket, the number of people renting property has increase by five per cent in the last eight months, despite a decrease in the buy-to-let mortgage market.
Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at the price comparison site, revealed that more had to be done to increase the amount of rental properties available to Britons.
"You would imagine this would mean the buy-to-let market would start to grow. However, our research shows the number of buy-to-let products has decreased from 4025 to 674 in just one year, with nearly 600 of these products removed since March 31st," she said.
"As stringent lending pushes people into the buy to let market, the decrease in the number of buy to let mortgages becomes increasingly alarming. I fear we will soon see many people unable to buy or rent - the question is, where do they go from there?" Ms Cuming added.
The study also revealed that potential landlords were being priced out of the market, with 11 per cent of respondents not being able to afford a buy-to-let mortgage.
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